Archive for September, 2005

Reds Limping Towards End of Season

September 29th, 2005 | Blade

The Reds dropped three of four to the Brewers, including a disappoint three hit performance this afternoon. The only good news is, Adam Dunn came closer to hitting some milestones. Yesterday he hit his 39th homer and scored his 99th run. It would be nice to see him reach 40 and 100.

Eric Milton actually threw well today. Two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts. With this being his last start of the season, he ends things with 40 homeruns, not even coming close to Bert Blyleven’s record. This was his second straight season with 40 though.

Reds Finish Regular Season On Winning Note, Face Pirates in NLCS Next Week

September 27th, 2005 | Brian

September 27, 1975 Reds 7, Braves 6 (108-54)

The Reds finished their historic season with their fifth straight win as they edged the Braves. The Reds came back from a 5-3 deficit by scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth only to allow the Braves to tie it up with a run in the ninth. But a big walk off RBI single by Cesar Geronimo put a punctation mark on the end of the Reds’ regular season.

Now the Reds had to contend with the Pirates in the upcoming NLCS. In the American League, it was the Red Sox and the three time World Champions Oakland A’s who were set to square off in the ALCS.

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Bullpen Falters, Reds Hang on To Win Fourth Straight

September 26th, 2005 | Brian

September 26, 1975 Reds 7, Braves 6 (107-54)

Sparky couldn’t have been happy about the pen’s melt down in this game. With only one regular season remaining, the Reds almost wasted a 7-1 lead as the Braves scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning.

Don Gullett cruised through the first five innings before yielding to the pen, but Will McEnaney had the horrific line. He pitched 1/3 inning and gave up five hits, two walks and five runs. Pat Darcy came in to stop the damage and got the final two batters out to end the game.

……at least in one of their games. The Reds dropped two of three to the Phillies. What does that mean??? Absolutely nothing. This Reds fan is bummed out that the season is drawing to a close, but with some tight division and wild card races, this could be an absolutely exciting week of baseball.

Just not if your team is the Reds.

Friday’s game was absolutely ugly. Up 10-6, the Reds had yet another late inning meltdown as the Phillies scored five runs in the top of the ninth to win the game. David Weathers was shelled and was basically left out there to win or lose the game. Guess what, he lost. The Reds had four homers, one of which was Austin Kearns’ sixteenth dinger of the season.

That game was depressing, so lets talk about yesterday’s game. The Reds had it all. Good pitching (Eric Milton gave up only five hits and one through seven innings and the pen did their job) and some timely hitting. Adam Dunn homered for the 38th time this season. He’s at 97 RBIs, so three more and he’ll have his second consecutive season with 100 RBIs, runs and walks. Not too shabby for the future hall of famer.

Today, the Phillies got to the Reds early, and before the Reds could even score a run, the Phillies had enough to walk away with the win. Edwin Encarnacion hit a solo homer and Adam Dunn went two for four to push his average to a nice, even .250. Kind of fitting for the Reds to lose their final home game of the season.

The Reds travel to Milwaukee for four in a meaningless series before traveling to St. Louis to play their AAA team as they rest up for the playoffs. I’m going to predict we win five of seven in our final week to end the season on winning note.

The Reds came back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to win their 105th game of the season. Joe Morgan’s two stolen bases put him at 65 on the season as he went two for two with a homerun, two walks and two runs. Pete Rose was two for five with two RBIs and both Dan Driessen and Cesar Geronimo had two hits.

Clay Kirby walked away with his tenth win of the season. He gave up three runs on three hits and two walks. Pat Darcy threw a solid three innings of relief and gave up an unearned run on three hits, and Rawly Eastwick pitched a shutout ninth to earn his league leading 22nd save of the season.

Every win from here on our just added to the team’s franchise record as the Reds made sort work of the Astros. They jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second with an RBI single by Cesar Geronimo and a two run single by Pete Rose. The Astros scored a run in the bottom half of the inning, but the Reds answered with a run of their own in the third when Joe Morgan scored on Tony Perez’s double.

The Astros made things interesting by scoring two in the bottom of the third to make it a one run game, but the Reds pitching tightened up after that. Ken Griffey scored on Geronimo’s ground out in the eighth to give the Reds an insurance run they wouldn’t need.

Fred Norman improved to an impressive 12-4 record by going eight innings and giving up three runs on only four hits. Rawly Eastwick saved his 22nd game of the season by pitching a perfect ninth inning.

The Astros snapped the Reds five game winning streak behind a four hit outing by starter Joe Niekro. The lone Reds run came in the ninth inning when Darrel Chaney was walked with the bases loaded, scoring Doug Flynn.

Jack Billingham threw six innings and gave up three runs on seven hits and five walks. His record dropped to 15-10. Will McEnaney was also roughed up as he gave up a two run homer in the seventh inning.

The Reds made history as they won a franchise record 103 games by shutting out the Braves. They finished the four game sweep with some very solid pitching. Don Gullett and Rawly Eastwick combined to hold the Braves to two hits and two walks. Gullett improved to 14-4 and Eastwick earned his 20th save of the season.

Ken Griffey got the Reds on the board early with a two run homerun in the first inning. That’s all they’d end up needing, but Dan Driessen doubled home Pete Rose in the sixth to give the Reds a little extra insurance.